Mr. Corry of course criticized Mr. Childers' statement, but the
only points he made were that he was entitled to some of Mr. Childers' credit, which is true of every First Lord who ever held office ; and that sweeping reductions in the dockyards hurt the men reduced, which is as true as it is unavoidable. He tried hard to show that the new system of purchasing stores did not work, and it appeared that he had been down at the dockyards hunting up facts from foremen, some of whom of course condemned every- thing provided, for substantial reasons explained in Mr. Baxter's speech. He was, however, most eloquent on Mr. Childers' con- duct in hoisting the Admiralty flag on board the Channel Fleet, which he thought quite "unconstitutional." Suppose an accident happened, how was Mr. Childers to be tried by court-martial ? And if not Mr. Childers, then who? Did Mr. Corry never hear of a court-martial on a lieutenant for failure in duty while his captain was on board ? Suppose the Royal flag had been flying, would he have wanted to try the Queen ? Yet Her Majesty is most certainly constitutionally the ,superior of -.airy officer iu .her own Navy.
